Citing threats to national security, the government on Monday decided to ban Mobile Number Portability, and warned that violators would be booked under Anti-Terrorism Act (ATA), 1997.
Mobile Number Portability is a service introduced a few years ago that allows cell phone users to retain their number while switching to a different cellular network.
A high-level meeting held under Interior Minister Rehman Malik on the misuse of electronic equipments, including the internet, email and SMS/MMS, discussed remedial measures to curb such illegal activities. The chairman and secretary of the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) were directed to immediately hold a meeting with cellular service providers, and convey the government’s concerns to ensure that the cellular services were not misused by anti-state elements.
The meeting decided that cellular companies would be required to install their own monitoring system in coordination with the PTA to block objectionable communication being routed through their servers. The participants in the meeting included the secretaries of Interior and Information Technology, the PTA chairman, inspector general of Sindh Police, members of the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) and Customs, and representatives of intelligence agencies.
They observed that the criminals were still using unauthorised SIM cards in their illegal activities such as terrorist attacks, bank robberies and target killings. The PTA chairman was directed to revisit the whole system and ensure that all SIM cards being used on stolen identity shall be blocked. In this regard, the participants decided to ban the Mobile Number Portability, calling it a threat to the national security. They said that anyone sending threatening emails or tampering with email address, mobile phone via SMS and MMS shall be dealt with under the ATA and other relevant sections of the law.
The participants also decided to identify “obscene words” and anti-state phrases and include them in the block list. They also agreed to ask cellular companies to ensure that anything against social norms and customs would not be advertised, and that the companies would not support any media programme with content that scandalised the government, or was against national honour and security.
The interior minister constituted a committee under the chairmanship of the Interior secretary to examine the draft bill regarding the misuse of electronic equipment. The committee will brief the interior minister within one week on the proposed legislation.
Govt bans mobile number portability with ATA threat
